According to co-owner News Corp, the popular Hulu internet TV service may start charging users subscription fees as early as next year. The site's content is mostly available for free on local broadcast television. (Source: Hulu)

Just a few fateful words send our dreams of a free Hulu future plunging

Oh fate, why must you mock thee? After many happy hours of
watching, free Hulu may be set to kick the can. According to a
new report the popular internet
TV service may begin charging for content as early as next year.

It seems like just a few months ago that happy days were upon us
and Hulu was looking to spread its free
loving to more and more places, including the
iPhone and mobile sphere (wait, that was a few months
ago). Then came the fateful
revelation from Chase Carey, President, Chief Operating Officer
(COO), and Deputy Chairman of News Corporation (which co-owns
Hulu), stating the days of freebies were drawing to an end.

States Mr. Carey, "I think a free model is a very difficult
way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do
is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will
appreciate the value,” Carey said. “Hulu concurs with that, it
needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of
its business."

When asked when the end of the world -- or at least free Hulu --
might occur, Mr. Carey replied that the Hulupocalypse was set to
occur sometime next year, in 2010. He offered us weak
reassurance cheering "not all content on Hulu would be behind a
pay wall".

The move brings into question Hulu's future. Many users
would stop using Hulu if it wasn't free. It doesn't seem like
many users would pay cable-like fees for content that is already
available for free on broadcast television, or at minimal cost with
basic cable. And if those users forsake Hulu, they'll take a
pile of advertising revenue with them.

There's still faint hope that the end of free Hulu might be
averted. Indeed, Comcast is looking to partner with Hulu, so
that could alter the equation dramatically. And faced with too
much backlash News Corp. may change its mind. And current
co-owner NBC could even nix the idea. The optimist inside many
of us likely will hope for this very badly. But the pessimist
will think that, in the end it will probably happen, and lament why
free Hulu had to die so young. Why do the good always die
young?

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Well your only going to be paying for the tv shows because all their movies except 5 are horrible.

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